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During the growing season, we often get calls from clients asking, “can I seed my lawn to repair dead or declining areas in the lawn?” Since 95% of our clients have Bermuda and Zoysia turf grass, we will focus this blog on how to repair your Bermuda and Zoysia lawns without seeding.  Typically, our process is to determine the root cause of why the turf has declined, address that issue, and then move on to lawn repair. 

The first step is to identify the problem. There are many reasons clients may see declining areas in their lawn. We will explore a few of the most common reasons.  

Disease – Different diseases can cause portions of grass ranging from small dots up to large patches to die. When possible, we prefer to prevent the disease.  However in some cases, the disease may not be easily avoided. Learn more about how to identify diseases in your lawn by reading a recent article we published Signs Your Lawn Has a Disease.

Weather – The temperatures in Georgia can go from very mild to either extremely hot or cold rapidly.  These big changes in temperatures can be damaging for turf grass. While there are few ways to prevent this type of damage, it is important to be mindful of the weather patterns, follow good watering and mowing practices, and stay on a good turf treatment program.

Environmental Issues – Environmental issues can be triggered by many, many factors.  Consult with a professional if you think this may be the root cause of your turf decline. Many times, environmental issues are caused by too much shade or competition from a nearby tree or shrub. Drainage issues, such as when too much water is flowing on the turf, can also be a root cause of turf decline.  

After finding the cause of your turf decline, we can address how to repair dead spots in your lawn. Follow these best tips and practices to repair your Bermuda and Zoysia turf.  

Mowing & Watering – You need to ensure that you have good maintenance practices in place when it comes to your lawn, including mowing and watering properly. If you have questions about mowing or watering make sure to check out these recent blogs we posted How mowing can help us help you & Watering – Why it’s a must.  Mowing and watering will promote new lateral growth within the turf, which will slowly fill back in these declining areas in the lawn.  

Core Aeration – Aeration removes small plugs of ground from the entire lawn, which will help stimulate new growth.  There are many benefits of annual core aeration so make sure you discuss these with a turf professional.  If you want to learn more check out this aeration page on our website.

Top Dressing – When most people think of top dressing, they think of golf courses.  However, this is a great way to improve the overall appearance of your turf and those unsightly dead spots.  While top dressing your entire lawn can be expensive, here are a few local companies that offer this type of service: Level Lawns, Platinum Topdressing, & Sandman Topdressing. We will warn you that a complete top dressing can be costly. For those who prefer not to spend the money to top dress the entire lawn but still want to speed up the recovery process, we recommend top dressing the declining areas only. Top dressing partially can be tricky because you want to avoid creating humps throughout your lawn. Make sure to keep a light and even layer with the current soil service. For more information, check out a recent blog we posted, How to top dress parts of your lawn.

Sod – For most homeowners, this is a last resort and really only necessary when the damaged areas of the lawn are too large for the above actions to help or immediate results are needed. If you determine sod is your best option, whether patching the declining area of your lawn or getting an entirely new lawn, these are some local sod farms to talk with: Super Sod & NG Turf.

At the end of the day, there are lots of options and paths you can take to repair your lawn without seeding.  We always recommend consulting with a professional on what is the best path for your Bermuda or Zoysia lawn. Your friends at Nature’s Turf are standing by to help!